


Revenge

by Mireille



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-06-08
Updated: 2005-06-08
Packaged: 2018-08-18 19:21:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8173000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mireille/pseuds/Mireille
Summary: Rose and the Doctor take in a little culture.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2005 Ninth Doctor ficathon.

"They're throwing oranges," Rose said, trying to keep her voice down and leaning in close to the Doctor. Not that anyone would have heard her, she thought; between the actors bellowing and the audience shouting its approval--or disapproval--of every scene, she thought she could have shouted, "My name is Rose Tyler, and I'm from the twenty-first century," and no one would have even noticed. Maybe they'd have thought she was part of the show. 

The Doctor just nodded, leaning forward a little and grinning. "Hang on, this is a good bit," he said, and Rose sat there for what felt like forever, while one of the actors gave an unbelievably long speech about... well, she wasn't sure. She couldn't quite tell what they were saying half the time. She'd thought the TARDIS's translators were on the blink until the Doctor had insisted that the actors were speaking English. 

"They're throwing oranges," she repeated. 

The Doctor finally seemed to pay attention. "I don't think they liked that bit. They should've found a new Lady Montague; that boy's voice is cracking."

"What boy?" 

"Lady Montague."

"Lady Montague's a boy?"

"All the women are played by boys," the Doctor said. "Women weren't allowed on the stage."

"So, wait. Are you telling me Shakespeare wrote drag shows?" The Doctor's look got "stupid ape" across pretty clearly, Rose thought, even if he got distracted by something onstage and he didn't actually say it. "All right, not drag shows," she conceded. "But… Juliet's a boy in a dress?" 

Someone behind them threw an orange at the stage, and the Doctor reached up, catching it neatly and starting to peel it. "That's right. All the women's parts are played by boys." 

After a moment, Rose shrugged. "I suppose if you go around wearing trousers like yours most of the time, a dress isn't that much of a change." For once, the Doctor had abandoned his beloved jacket and jumper--at least, Rose had to assume he loved that particular look, since he seemed to wear it all the time--saying that he'd stand out far too much in Tudor England. She'd been thrilled, especially after the struggle she'd had getting into her own dress; she'd nearly dislocated her shoulder trying to do up the back before she'd given up and asked for help--from Jack, since the Doctor had been annoyingly elsewhere. 

But even this dress wasn't as bad as the Doctor's trousers, which were short and looked as though there was room for at least three Doctors in the each leg, not to mention being a lot more colorful than anything she'd seen him in before. Rose hadn't been able to stop giggling the entire time they were walking from the TARDIS to the theatre. Jack's clothes were a little better--still pretty ridiculous, but they looked more like what she'd been expecting from TV, and they weren't quite as… loud. 

And that reminded her of something. "Where did Jack go?" She had to raise her voice a bit; the crowd was getting louder. Maybe she ought to be paying attention to the play--no. No way. It made no sense, they were standing on a bare stage yelling, and all the women were boys in dresses. She didn't know what this was, but it definitely wasn't Shakespeare. She'd seen Shakespeare. She and Shireen had made Shireen's mum take them to see _Romeo and Juliet_ at the cinema when they were kids, and this was definitely not that.

The Doctor shrugged, grinning a little. "Said he'd been here before and he knew somebody. He's going to meet us back at the TARDIS before nightfall. Now watch the play." 

"I know how it ends." 

"You know how it-- Rose, this is Shakespeare. He's only one of the most talented minds your planet ever produces, and you don't want to watch the play because you know how it ends?"

"Yeah. Unless you want to hang about to get his autograph after?" she said, grinning a little. Honestly, you put the Doctor around some supposedly great writer, and he acted like a twelve-year-old girl running after her favorite pop singer. 

"Already got it," he said smugly. "I've been here before, too." 

"Then we can just go, right? I do know how it ends. He kills himself, then she kills herself, the end." 

The Doctor shook his head, but he got up, and they made their way through the tightly-packed crowd to the street outside. "I thought you said you liked _Romeo and Juliet_ ," he said accusingly.

"I liked the film," she said. "Romeo was good looking, and Juliet was a girl. And I could understand what they were saying."

"I give you the opportunity to see Shakespeare performed _in Tudor England_ and you'd rather watch the film?"

"At least Lady Montague's voice wasn't changing in the film." 

"Well. I'll grant you that," he admitted, but he soon bounced back to being irritating. "So. Back to the TARDIS, I suppose, so you can ignore this chance of a lifetime because it's not like the film?" 

"Oh, no," she said, grinning. "If we go back to the TARDIS, you'll put your old clothes back on." 

"Probably, since I won't be out and about in the sixteenth century. I don't need to blend in if we're in the TARDIS."

"Well… what if Jack gets in trouble and we have to go and rescue him? We can't stop and wait for you to change your clothes back again." 

"He's not going to need to be rescued."

"That's what we thought on that ice planet, too."

"We're not saving Jack from anyone else who wants to marry him. He can just say 'no' and run away like the rest of us." 

"Still. What if he does get into trouble? It'd be a shame for you to have to go out in jeans and a jumper when you've already got this _lovely_ costume picked out."

There was a moment of silence while the Doctor looked at her thoughtfully. "This is revenge for making you wear that dress, isn't it?"

Rose grinned and then said something she'd been waiting to for quite a while. "Sort of, yeah."


End file.
